Hello!
Creative ideas are my lifeblood and coffee is my life-support. My name is Zoe and I am a word nerd extraordinaire, lover of b grade romcoms and an unrepentant ramen addict. In an ideal world, I want to become a copywriter who brings an element of truth and relatability to her works.

Today I got to walk the red carpet.

Before you ask, no I’m not an Instagram ‘plebebrity’ who was able to skulk her way to red carpet glory. Today my converse-clad feet walked the red carpet decked corridors of Melbourne’s Whybin office. But instead of a clamouring crowd of paparazzi and adoring fans, I was very much the wide-eyed onlooker walking amongst professionals in a well adorned office.

I’m not sure if they intentionally chose the red carpet so that those who walked it subliminally associated the agency with status and success, but either way though it worked.

Once we reached the pitching room, the inner sanctum of every advertising agency we met Tara Ford and Ricci Meldrum, who represented both the creative and suit side of the advertising world. They gave us a brief that strongly resonated with me as the client was ANZ and the purpose of the brief was to address the pay inequality that women face.

I know that in an advertising agency, creatives often work on a wide range of briefs from endearing a brand to a new demographic to promoting a new product so it felt extra-rewarding to receive and work on a brief that wished to address a social problem.

After the briefing, our tutorial group of over 20 students converged upon the Golden Gate Hotel in order to brainstorm. Much to the chagrin of our Pokemon-go playing counterparts, the hotel was a mere 60 second walk away from the agency which limited the likelihood of adding another critter to their digital menagerie.

I admit that I was initially worried that the gender dynamics of our team, two females and four males would affect our creative solution to the brief. However, 5 minutes into brainstorming and my worries were totally and utterly nullified. Our group had excellent creative chemistry and I’m sure that onlookers would have distinguished us by the endless and excited stream of conversation that emanated from our table.

So I’ve left that night, with a mind full of ideas and as naïve as it sounds a desire to make a difference. I may not have trodden upon Hollywood’s famous red carpet, however, I have taken a step in the right direction- learning how an advertising agency operates.